Snowpiercer co-star Lena Hall addresses Sean Bean’s recent critiques about intimacy coordinators. Bean plays Joseph Wilford in the TV adaptation of the film Snowpiercer, where Hall plays Miss Audrey. Bean has acted in several other prominent fantasy roles, including Ned Stark in Game of Thrones and Boromir in the Lord of the Rings films.

Bean made headlines this week when he made shocking comments about the utility of an intimacy coordinator on sets. Intimacy coordinators, sometimes known as intimacy choreographers, are industry professionals who work with actors on scenes involving sex or other close physical interaction to ensure that the behaviors required by film and TV scripts are still consensual and comfortable for all parties involved. In his comments, Bean said that “the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it down to a technical exercise.” He even went so far as to say that intimacy coordination work can “spoil the spontaneity” of a sex scene, going on to mock intimacy coordinators who might tell him to “Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing.” Bean argued that direction like this “would inhibit [him] more because it’s drawing attention to things.”

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Hall reacts to Bean’s perspective in a recent string of online comments. According to Hall’s Twitter, while she respects Bean as an actor and said he made her feel comfortable in scenes, she takes issue with the comments. An effort to “clarify some information” in an article covering Bean’s remarks followed. She expressed that being an actress does not equate to being “up for anything.” She explained the vital role of an intimacy coordinator, who can help step in if there is any part of her “feeling weird, gross, overexposed, etc.” She compared the work of an intimacy coordinator to the need for mental health professionals when actors are called upon to film other traumatic scenes such as rape or suicide.

“I probably need to clarify some information in this random article since people are reaching out to me like ‘girl, are you okay?' “Just because I am in theater (not cabaret, but I do perform them every once in a while) does not mean that I am up for anything. Seriously does depend on the other actor, the scene we are about to do, the director, and whatever crew has to be in there to film it. [I will call on intimacy coordinators] if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, overexposed etc. I will either challenge the necessity of the scene or I’ll want an IC. I feel that when an actor has to do a scene that is extremely emotional (like committing suicide or being raped) there needs to be some kind of mental health person available to talk to post-shoot. Even though we are only acting, we are still experiencing trauma.”

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Hall is not alone in her opposition to Bean’s views. Other actresses have recently disputed Bean’s claims and attest to the importance of an intimacy coordinator on their own sets. West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler mentioned that “intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors,” citing how such professionals helped her when filming intimate scenes on set with Ansel Elgort. The Good Place and She-Hulk star Jameela Jamil took to attacking Bean’s claim that intimacy coordinators turn the work into a “technical exercise,” instead claiming that intimate scenes between actors “should only be technical” because such scenes are “like a stunt.”

Hall and others’ refuting of Bean’s claims is vital to this conversation regarding intimacy coordinators. In an era post #MeToo, it was pretty shocking to see Bean so openly decry an industry practice that is put in place to help aid best practices of consent on screen. Bean’s comments were especially notable coming from an actor on the Game of Thrones set. Game of Thrones is not only ripe with graphic sexual scenes but has run into controversy regarding its portrayal of sexual violence towards women. Hopefully, with Hall and other actresses chiming in, those less familiar with intimacy work will grow to understand the importance of an intimacy coordinator better and help to shut down the harmful comments from Bean.

Source: Lena Hall